


Black of the night sky, the red of...

by the_hunter_named_death



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Blood, Galra Keith (Voltron), Gay Keith (Voltron), Hurt, Hurt Keith (Voltron), Hurt Lance (Voltron), Injury, Keith/Lance (Voltron) - Freeform, Lance (Voltron) Angst, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, Lance (Voltron)-centric, Langst, M/M, Poison, Vampire Lance (Voltron), VampireLance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-03
Updated: 2019-06-13
Packaged: 2019-07-06 13:48:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 13,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15887295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_hunter_named_death/pseuds/the_hunter_named_death
Summary: It’s been a while since Lance had... anything(?) to eat. So much so that Alluras mice were starting to look appetizing. It doesn’t help him getting stuck on an alien planet with Keith of all people, and blood loss does not help with the hunger.Who knows perhaps there’s something on the planet he can snack on, if not he isn’t sure how long he can be around a bleeding Keith without doing something he regrets.





	1. Chapter 1

Lance has always has an interesting relationship with the colours black and red, they ruled over his very existence in fact. So of course it came as no surprise to him when he found himself, yet again, intertwined with them. ‘Such is fate’ he thought to himself. 

“Fate is lousy anyway. I mean out of all the people I had to get stuck with on some weird planet, it just had to be Keith.” Lance muttered under his nose while staring at the oddly shaped leaves which he swears were staring right back at him. 

He slowly looked over at the now black paladin who was currently unconscious and laying on what looked to be a surprisingly comfortable pile of orange moss and mint green leaves. The black lion lay lifelessly behind him, having flattened some weird... mushroom trees?

“You know what Mullet. I should just leave you here and go find some help.” Lance grumbled half to himself and glared at the other boy.  
See, Lance had landed on the stone covered ground just a few feet away from Keith.

In all honesty however, the last thing he wanted to do was leave Keith, and as the green leaves around him slowly turned red Lance found it increasingly difficult to just sit there and do nothing. Slowly he sat up and forced himself to inspect his own injuries.

Brilliant. 

“Looks like you won’t be the only pain in my side, Keith.” Lance winces while admiring the sharp rock sticking out of his abdomen.  
Of course, why not. It was just his lucky day.  
Having said that, it was probably the only big injury he’d have to really worry about, but judging by the sharp pain as he breathes he’d have to assume that he’s also broken a few ribs, and the cut across his forearm is looking a little deep too. Other than the smaller cuts and bruises he’s impressed that this was all the injuries he sustained, given what had happened.

“Okay Lance, you can’t do anything with a rock sticking out of you, it’s gotta go.” He whispers.  
Holding his breath he swiftly pulls the spike out of his body, barely being able to hold back his scream.  
‘Keep it together, you still have the cute pain in your side to worry about.’ Lance pauses for a second. ‘Nope, that’s the blood loss talking.’ He reasons with himself, ‘totally the blood loss, there’s absolutely no way-’  
His thoughts are cut off by the sound of a soft groan coming from Keith’s direction.  
Lance jumps to his feet and runs over to Keith’s side, probably not a great idea in hindsight but whatever, Keith was waking up. 

“Hey, are you alright??” Lance questioned as he slowly checked over the boys body for any injuries. Thankfully there only seemed to be superficial cuts and bruises, the plant life had cushioned his fall pretty well. 

“...Lance? What happened?” Keith tried to sit up, only to feel the world spin and fall back down again.  
Without thinking Lance held out his arms and caught Keith before he could reach the ground.  
Then... it finally hit him. It felt like lightening through his veins, his whole body burned and he clenched his teeth trying to fight it off.

“...-anc.. Lance?? Are you okay?” Keith questions, seemingly oblivious to the fact that he was being held in Lance’s arms. 

“Huh?” Lance jumped, being snapped out of the almost trance like state. “Yeah. besides I should be asking you that.”  
Keith sits up again, this time with more success than previously, and Lance becomes aware of the position they were in just then, he blushes slightly. 

“I’m fine... where are we? What happened?” The black paladin asked as he looked around at the alien forest they seem to be in. 

“Hmm... well let’s see.” Lance says while tapping his finger on his chin in a somewhat theatrical way, trying to lighten the mood and keep his mind off the giant stab wound that’s slowly oozing blood.  
“So these evil Galra quiznaks surprise attacked the castle, there were two cruisers and like dozens of fighter jets, man they really know how to party. They had everyone pinned and separated almost instantly, forming voltron was impossible, everyone was in a pretty tough position... Anyway, so they had the ion cannon charged and pointed directly at the black lion, there was no way you could have moved out the way in time... and since I fly red now, and red is the fastest I guess I flew in the way of the blast. Not that it did any good. I think red must have knocked black into this planet’s orbit and we both went down. Though it looks like red spat me out. When I came to I was here, thought the leaves were staring at me for a hot minute, and then I cradled you in my arms. Yep that about covers it.” Lance finishes with a hum. 

Keith stares at Lance blankly before looking around for any signs of the red lion, and just like Lance had said, only black’s presence was evident. Red must have landed somewhere else, and her paladin did look pretty beat up. How had he survived being hit directly with an ion cannon and then falling from red? The paladin armour was good but not that good. There was no way he could have gotten out of it unscathed like he said.

Suddenly Lance groans, quickly clenching his fists, hoping the feel of his fingernails digging into his palms will provide enough of a distraction from the sensation that his whole body is being ripped apart again. It was as if sand was running through his veins, the thought of it made Lance nauseous, his breathing sped up, agitating his broken ribs and for a split second, only a second, he felt as if he’d lose total control of his body.  
‘No! Get a grip. You can’t do this right now.’ He reasons with himself. But the world continues to spin, until he feels a hand on his shoulder, grounding him in the present. 

“Lance!? Lance answer me! What’s wrong?”

“..Nothing. I think I have a broken rib?” Lance chokes out and gives Keith a small smile, hoping it’ll be enough to satisfy the other for the time being.  
“Let’s just get you cleaned and patched up first...” before I end up doing something I regret. He finishes off in his head. 

You see, Lance had always had an interesting relationship with the colours red and black. 

The red pumping through veins...  
The black of the night sky.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The story will begin to progress quicker after this point, this chapter is mostly focused on Lance and his feels XD

   Lance was starved, the last bite he had to eat was during their usual recon missions, if Lance happened upon a living Galra patrol he’d take the opportunity to quench his thirst, however recently Allura seemed to favour missions of more of a diplomatic nature. He couldn’t exactly bite one of the locals if he wanted to make a good impression and invite them to join the Voltron coalition. Of course those missions were just as important as any recon missions, maybe even more so, but after a month of nothing but meetings even Allura’s mice were starting to look appetising.

   Keith and Lance made their way towards the black lions lifeless form, somewhere inside the ship was a first aid kit, a rather primitive one in comparison to the healing pods back on the castle but in a pinch it’ll do. And this, by Lance’s definition, was indeed quite a pinch. He needed to stop Keith’s bleeding soon, even just the sight of the boys blood threatened to snap Lance’s self control on a good day, and this was far from good. Lance even had plans of sneaking off the castle in search of any stray patrol ship that would supply him with some blood, starvation is a fate worse than death to a vampire.

   Climbing in through a large lion’s mouth was a more difficult task than ether of them had initially expected, it didn’t help that every time Lance moved his injuries screamed out for him to stop and drain the next living thing he sees so they could finally heal. What agitated him more was the gracefulness with which Keith seemed to move, while he stumbled about like a newborn calf. He was supposed to be the graceful one here, vampires by nature are elegant creatures, but hunger and injury have reduced him to a clumsy fool tripping over every loose panel and wire until they reached Back’s control room.

“Hunk mentioned that the first aid kit is in one of these compartments, he said he found it by accident once while cleaning yellow.” Lance said while leading Keith over to the left side of the room.

“Sounds like Hunk.” They both exchanged faint smiles.

   The team will be searching for them, surely...  
The last thing Lance remembers is them being over powered. Who knows how long they’d be stuck here... he didn’t want to think about it.  
They’ll come.

“I found it. No thanks to you.” Keith mutters the last part under his breath but it doesn’t go unnoticed.  
   He earns himself a slight glare from Lance who takes the box and opens it, digging around and throwing a bottle of antiseptic and some bandages towards Keith.

“I’m guessing you know how to patch yourself up.” Lance said, still digging around for more bandages for himself.  
“But if you need help just call me.”

   With that Lance left the room, leaving behind a slightly confused and concerned Keith.  
There was a small storage room near the control cabin, far enough that he wouldn’t be found immediately if looked for, but still close so he could hear if Keith called out to him. If he had stayed in the control room, watching Keith undress, revealing his pale skin littered with cuts leaking rubies, glittering droplets of what smelled like the most delicious blood Lance would ever taste. He couldn’t even think about it.

   Taking off his armour was a less than pleasant experience, the blood surrounding his wounds had dried and stuck the suit to his skin and removing it meant undoing his body’s hard work in attempt to heal. Had he fed before this unfortunate event these wounds would have healed by themselves within a few short days, but now, now he’s healing slower than the average human. A HUMAN. How do things always end up this way? Is there any lore on Vampires having bad luck? Does drinking blood give him a lot of bad karma? In all honesty, being turned was probably the beginning of this bad luck streak.

   Lance slowly begun to peel his under-suit off, first exposing the deep slash across his forearm, it was alarmingly deeper than he’d previously anticipated. Secondly he got a good look at his chest where he was greeted with the beginning signs of a dark purple bruise around where he rightfully assumed his broken ribs were. He shed the rest of the suit and let it hang loosely around his waist, not daring to look at the mess that was the now re-agitated stab wound. But the sting continued to remind him that it was there and it needed attention. Lance willed himself to look down and suddenly all the pain came crashing down on him, dancing behind his eyelids as he shut his eyes tight, and clenched his teeth tighter.  
   His body went into panic mode, his senses heightened from adrenalin and bloodlust. He could smell Keith’s blood so vividly, hear his strong and steady pulse. Lance quickly bit down on his lip, not even realising his fangs had come out, the small but sharp pain of his fangs cutting his lip managed to bring him back from the brink of a total frenzy.  
   Without wasting a moment he began cleaning the wound, giving himself the occasional break when his head was spinning too much for him to continue.  
Once he’d finished cleaning up all the wounds he wrapped each one with the bandages and put the black under-suit back on, the sting and ache of his body becoming more present again since he had nothing left for him to focus on. Well, there was always Keith, perhaps he should go checkup on him.

   The Red paladin entered the main control room once more, catching a glimpse of the pale skin of Keith’s back as he put his undersuit back on, just as Lance had done moments before. The sight was mesmerising despite how fleeting it was, watching how the previously rash and reckless Black paladin dressed himself with a soft elegance, an almost vulnerable grace, it was a bliss Lance was afraid to indulge in, fearing what further feelings it could bring to the surface. The fact that Keith, to Lance, was more alluring than any vampire, and vampires were alluring by design for heavens sake, served to irritate the boy further.

“Hey, how long are you just gonna stare?” Keith finally spoke while putting the last pieces of armour on.

“What? I wasn’t staring!” Lance called back defensively with an irritated expression.  
“I just wanted to know if you’re okay.”

Keith paused and a flicker of guilt came over his features, but just as quickly as it came it disappeared.  
“Um, yeah. I’m fine, it’s just a few cuts and bruises, nothing serious.”

   Of course Lance already knew that, mostly anyway, from checking over the boys body as he lay unconscious. Nevertheless he was glad to hear that Keith was alright, that he got out of the battle relatively unscathed and that Lance’s somewhat reckless move on the battlefield had saved the boy from more serious injuries.

“That’s good to hear...” Lance replied, his voice melted with relief.  
“Anyway, we should probably try contacting the others. The lions may be down for the time being but we could get some signal through our helmets.”

   But just as luck would have it, there was nothing but static.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve been really getting into this story, let’s see where it goes from here!
> 
> As before if anyone has any comments or feedback please lemme know it would be lovely to hear what people think :3 
> 
> I promise I’ll get the hand of tagging eventually!
> 
> Thank you for reading, means the world to me <3


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been a while!  
> BUT things are about to get wild for the two paladins, slowly but surely  
> So enjoy <3

“Okay, we need a plan.”

“Woah? Keith? Making a plan? Do you have a concussion??” Lance joked, half because he’s trying to lighten the mood, and half because he’s actually terrified.

   Loosing contact with the castle was one thing, but not being able to reach the other paladins was something that has only happened once before, and things did not turn out too well for them that time, considering Keith led everyone into some crazy space storm chasing after Lotor. It certainly wasn’t his finest moment as a leader.

“What, you have a better idea?” Keith retorts, clearly irritated by Lance’s response.

   Lance frowns his brows and opens his mouth as to say something, then closes it again and with a defeated sigh shakes his head. He’s feeling too weak to continue expending what little energy his body has on pointless arguments with the boy he’d much rather kiss than agitate.  
Lance’s eyes widen at the thought he just had, of kissing Keith… kissing him gently on the lips, moving down and kissing him along his beautiful jaw, then further down to Keith’s pale neck… feeling the pulse under his skin, his life beating beneath Lance’s lips.

   The red paladin shakes his head in a overdramatic manner. God, that was a dangerous train of thought.  
He looks up to find Keith’s sharp gaze directed right at him, his eyes full of fire, but not of determination, but of anger.

“Were you even listening to a word I’ve said?” Keith looks even more annoyed than before.

“Uh, no, must have been so boring I dozed off.” That, was the exact opposite of what Lance had wanted to say, expressing himself genuinely to Keith was something he had yet to get a grasp of.

“Typical. You never pay attention, thats why we end up in situations like these!” Hearing Keith say that really stung.

   Sure Lance didn’t seem like he ever payed attention, however more often than not he was actually going over the plan in his head, trying to figure out just how his specific ‘skillset’ could make the other paladin’s jobs easier.  
   Sure he acted like the goofball, but really he was just trying to alleviate some of the pressures of being paladins, with the weight of the entire universe on their shoulders, to ease the tensions in stressful situations. It worked well enough back on Earth, with the rest of his ‘family’, especially the newly turned. See, the trauma of dying, having your life ripped from your grasp, watching someone take away whats left of your humanity, to die a normal death… only to be reborn as a monster…

Lance huffs and crosses his arms.  
“So, whats the plan?”

“We should find some shelter, preferably away from Black, but not too far so we can keep an eye out incase the lion starts working again.”  
   Lance knew that Keith had a point, staying in the lion wound be a bad idea, not only is it a big, mechanical beacon screaming ‘I don’t belong here’, but if anything were to attack, fighting inside a grounded Voltron lion wouldn’t be ideal. But the wilderness was hardly any better, it would provide adequate cover from any hostile life form, but it was also unknown territory for them, who knows whats lurking out there.

“We have enough energy bars and water from the first aid kits to last us about 3 days. After that we’ll have to search for some more previsions, ether in the woods, or maybe find Red and raid her first aid kit.” Lance pauses and looks towards the forest.  
“Hmmm, I guess you could call them ‘woods’? Like, giant mushroom woods?”

   Honestly, Lance was only saying all that for Keith’s sake, normal food and drink wont do Lance any good in this situation, he'll just put on a show of ‘eating’ for Keith, but he’ll secretly return his share so the other can eat it later.  
Really, he didn’t even include himself in the equation. He didn’t lie, there was enough food to last 3 days, but only for one person.

   Keith seemed taken aback by what he heard, almost surprised. He wondered if perhaps he was slightly too harsh on Lance just then. However nice it was to see the boy serious for once, it was also equally unsettling. Keith realised he preferred it when the boy had a smile on his face, not this stoic expression. Come to think of it, Lance has been looking a little pale.

“Hey, are you really alright? You’re looking pretty pale.”

   Now it was Lance’s turn to be surprised.

He hesitates, “yeah.. yeah I'm alright. I guess it must be the broken ribs.”

   Keith doesn’t believe that one bit, but seeing Lance’s posture shift to a closed off and defensive one, he decides not to pursue the subject further, not yet anyway.

“Alright, lets get going then.” Keith replies, clearing his throat to break the awkwardness that had formed between them.

 

   Without another word they walk towards the mushroom jungle. Keith activates his Bayard and begins to cut through any sort of plant life thats in the way of his chosen path, leading them into the blood orange and mint green forest, into the unknown. Lance falls behind slightly, activating his own Bayard and sharpening his senses, just incase they weren’t completely alone on this planet. However even the act of focusing his vision gave him a skull splitting headache, despite that he continues onwards, following Keith’s fast pace for what felt like hours but was likely closer to 40 minutes, without ether of them saying a single word. Until Keith suddenly stops.  
   Admittedly the red paladin had wondered into a daydream while walking, trying to ignore the pain swirling behind his eyes and beneath his armour, so when Keith stopped walking all of the sudden Lance didn’t have enough time to even register the change and ended up walking directly into the other boy.

“Hey! Watch where you’re going!” Keith sharply turns to glare at Lance but any feeling of anger or annoyance fades as soon as he sees just how terrible Lance looks right now. His face is covered in a thin veil of sweat, he looks even paler than before, and theres a slight tremble in his body.

“Sorry.” Was all the reply Lance was capable of at that moment.

“Why don’t you rest for a while.. I found what could be pretty good shelter for us.” Keith says softly, his features coloured with concern.

   Lance looked behind Keith, he saw exactly why Keith had stopped so suddenly. There was a cave, well it looked like a cave at first glance, but in actuality it was probably about 5 ‘small’ mushrooms that has collapsed from their own wight into a convenient pile that will act as a safe space for the two boys. Well, for the time being, until the team finds them.

   The red paladin only managed a nod, and began making his shaky way across towards the cave, Keith was right, maybe some rest will help, let his body recharge just a little on its own. He felt a hand grab his arm, a warm, strong hand. Keith was steadying him and helping him to lay down, they locked eyes for a while, Lance having trouble decoding the many emotions running around in those violet irises of the boy he loved.

“I’m sorry.” Lance mutters quietly, he promised himself he wound’t be a burden to anyone, and yet here he was again, causing trouble for Keith.

“Lance..” Keith spoke softly, as if any kind of sharp tone would shatter the other boy.  
“You don’t have to apologise for anything. I should be the one apologising.”

“What?” The fog around his mind clears a little upon hearing those words. Why would Keith apologise? He did nothing wrong.

“Just get some sleep, prettyboy.” Keith huffs with a half smile. “I’ll take first watch, I’ll wake you up in a few hours.”

   Without even getting to question what ‘prettyboy’ was supposed to mean, Lance let the comfortable sleep take him, letting it dull his pain and bloodlust.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> stuff is happening? Kinda?

   Keith watched as the other boy’s eyes fell closed with ease. How could he not notice how bad Lance was looking? Sure he was preoccupied with making a plan to help insure the two of them survive, but what good was a plan of survival when one of them looked to be at death’s door already?

   This situation seemed vaguely familiar. Ah! Thats right. It was so long ago now, when Lance jumped in front of an explosion to save Coran, an alien he barely even knew back then. Keith remembers is vividly, Lance’s pale, beat up body, only regaining consciousness once to fire that critical shot which changed the outcome of the entire battle. Without that, Keith was sure everyone would have been a lot worse off… back then.  
That was also when the infamous bonding moment happened, the first time Keith felt like Lance had let him in past arms length, of course, he had to be practically dead for that to happen.  
Lance probably didn’t know this, but it hurt Keith a lot when he said he didn’t remember it.

   He peaks over to see Lance sleeping, somehow even in sleep he looks so restless, its exhausting to watch the poor boy struggle with each breath agitating his broken ribs.

“Why do you only let your defences down when you’re hurt like this?” Keith asks in a hushed tone, obviously not expecting any reply, but still he felt it important to ask nonetheless.  
“Then you have the guts to use my line against me, all while saying you don’t remember anything.” He sighs, getting slightly irritated.

    How can that boy be so… so selfishly selfless! Doing reckless things without stopping to think for a second of the consequences. Of all the people he’d hurt were he to die. How empty Keith wound feel without him there to constantly tease out all the pent up stress and emotions with those silly challenges and contests. It may have taken him a while, but Keith eventually realised what Lance was doing. Whether knowingly or not, he was incredibly skilled at defusing tense situations.  
Keith knew that, yet somehow being around the boy just made him feel irritated, but he didn’t hate Lance, not at all. In fact he admired him, and cared for him a lot, yet another thing that took Keith a while to realise. But whenever Lance was around Keith was lost for words and all he could do was turn to what he knew best, anger.  
Because letting someone get close, it would hurt him. He’s been abandoned by everyone he’s cared about, so maybe if he doesn’t care for Lance he won’t leave him…

   A whole lot of good that state of mind did.

   Lance was still here, and in pretty bad shape too, and Keith couldn’t even bring himself to admit he thinks of Lance as a friend. Well, he thinks of him as perhaps a little more than that, but if ‘friend’ was already that difficult to say, how could he possibly admit that he may or may not really like the boy.  
That he began noticing Lance more and more, all the things he does for the team, and all his cute mannerisms, and how genuinely excited he gets about some things.  
Keith could go on, with all these reasons, it was almost impossible for Keith not to develop some sort of feelings towards Lance.

“Ugh, enough of this.” Keith mutters to himself in annoyance before getting up to go patrol the area.

   Spending too much time staring at Lance wont do them any good, the least he could do was look around for any signs of the red lion, or life for that matter. Keith hoped to god that this wasn’t a Galra inhabited planet, if they struggled fighting them off in space, it would be a lot harder to keep their heads above water, figuratively speaking, if they were to be attacked on a Galra run planet.

 

   The forest before Keith seemed to still. Well you cant really expect much movement from big mushrooms, but the planet was very quiet, even Lance on this planet seemed quiet. Whether it was due to his injuries or this strange aura around them Keith couldn’t quite tell yet. But nevertheless it still struck Keith as odd, was there really no life on this planet other than plants?  
It could be that when the two lions broke through the atmosphere and then proceeded to magnificently swan dive into the soil on this ‘earth’, the inhabitants were scared away. If thats the case, then it would mean that whatever dwells here will eventually get curious about the invaders and decide to investigate.  
They can’t stay in one place for long.

 

   After spending far too much time hunting down what could probably pass for twigs Keith returned back to the ‘cave’, dropping the sticks in a pile in the middle of the shelter, ready to be set alight when, or if, the sky darkened and the planet was cast into the night.

   Keith wouldn’t necessarily call it a meal, but after eating half of his energy bar he allowed the silence of the place to hang uncomfortably around him and the unconscious boy next to him. Looking out into the strikingly coloured wilderness he noticed the slivers of the sky that peaked through the gaps in the ‘trees’ shift and change colour, gradually growing darker. As the day slowly turned to dusk Lance seemed to look even more restless than before, the quiet was abandoned and filled with the sound of Lance’s breath as it quickened. It sounded raspy and pained, his breath, was he having a bad dream? Should Keith attempt to wake him?

   Suddenly a loud sound echoed through the planet, loud but soft, like a gust of wind or an explosion, or a strange mixture of the two, in the moment of this ‘explosion’ the whole sky flashed red. Lance opened his eyes wide, locking them with Keith. Violet eyes stared into blue… no, red?

   The red light faded as quickly as it appeared and with it came the darkness of the nighttime.  
The boys would later discover that this planet had quite spectacular ‘sunsets’ and what they had witnessed on the first night was one of them.  
But right this moment Keith was deeply startled, he didn’t want to admit it, but who wouldn’t be freaked out by all this?? He looked into Lance’s confused blue eyes. Had it been the light? Playing tricks on Keith, making him think he saw something else. Maybe the red light… yeah that was definitely it. The reflection of the red light.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thingssss (this is really turning out to be a slow progressing story XD my baad)

   Lance was having a nightmare, he was in pain, close to death, it was almost like a deja vu, only instead of tall buildings bathed in the pinks and purples of the sunset, it was a strange jungle bathed momentarily in red. He was almost hyperventilating, unsure of where he was, all he knew was he needed to eat, he was so, so hungry. Everything was always so much more in the nighttime. Everything was so strong… colours, smells, sounds, he too was strong, stronger than he was during the day. That is one of the many things folklore got wrong. He wouldn't die in daylight, but he was significantly easier to kill in daylight. During the night however, everything increased. He was true only at night.

“K- Kee- Keith” He managed to spit out between sharp and short breaths.

   Lance was staring at the other boy, face contorted in pain and panic, much like Keith’s own which was showing panic and worry. His whole body was burning again, the night of this planet bringing out and sharpening his instincts. He could feel his heart beat, push whats left of his blood through his veins, like sand. It felt like it, like sand in his veins, like an hourglass almost out of time.  
   Keiths hands were on Lance’s shoulders now, keeping him somewhat grounded in reality. Lance was thankful for that, but Keith’s distressed expression stabbed into his heart, it hurt too, but it was a human hurt, the only human part of him in that moment. He couldn’t hurt this boy. But just sheer willpower wasn’t enough right now, not when the night had crept up on Lance unexpected, when he was so violently hit with those violent desires, not when he had all these injuries.

“…keith” He moaned out in pain.  
Lance could feel his eyes flicker from their brilliant blue to an almost glowing red, so he closed them.

“Lance, whats wrong?! Are you hurt? Whats happening?”

   In response Lance grabbed one of Keith’s arms with his hand, tight, too tight to be comfortable surely, but Keith doesn’t back away. Lance turns his head towards Keith’s arm, which he’s now digging his nails into. He places his forehead up against it, making sure Keith can't see his face as he bears his fangs, taking short breaths through his clenched teeth.

Keith's pulse rises, but he doesn’t let go of Lance, he just becomes even more concerned.  
“Lance, your head is warm, I think you have a fever.”

   Lance shakes his head against Keith’s arm. He can still feel his eyes burn and flicker behind his eyelids, being so close to the wrist of the one he cares for most, he places his lips against it.

   Keith can feel Lance’s hot breath through the thin fabric of the under-suit, the full armour was getting kinda tedious so Keith had discarded it before he ate. Now he was glad he did that.

   Lance presses his lips harder against Keith’s arm, he can feel tears breaching the boundaries of his closed eyelids, finding any weakness to exploit so they can slip through and fall on the boy’s cheek. The hunger hurt, it hurt like hell, fate worse than death.  
He was so close, so very close to relief.

“It’s gonna be okay… Lance, you’ll be okay.” A soft trembling voice spoke, the last few words seeming more like a question than a statement. Keith.

   Lance closed his mouth, letting his lips linger on Keith for a second before turning away and tangling his fingers in his hair. For how could he hurt him more than he already has. It was him. It was Keith.

 

   Lance seemed to have snapped out of whatever was happening, but Keith still kept his hands on his shoulders.  
Though slowly, as Lance calms down Keith takes the opportunity to take the boys hands away from his hair, and gently place his own hand on Lance’s forehead. Just as he thought, he was running a slight fever.

“Hey…” Keith whispered, but it was enough to grab Lance’s attention and make him look up from the floor.  
“How are you feeling?”

   Lance considered lying, but decided against it. There was something about the sincerity in Keith’s voice that stopped him.

“Slightly dizzy. Looking at your hair is making it worse.” He replied with a weak smile.

   Keith half laughs, glad that the other paladin seems to be feeling better enough to make jokes. His face falls however as he asks the next question.

“What was that, Lance?”

“I, uh, I think I had a nightmare.” That was half true, Lance had had a nightmare before being awoken by that intense crash and the cool feeling of the day fading into night.

   Keith could only guess what the dream was about, it must have been one hell of a nightmare to do that to Lance. Lance who always joked and smiled, never once showing true fear. From Keith’s point of view, what he just witnessed looked like a panic attack, and Keith had his fair share of experience with those. Its no secret, Shiro’s flashbacks were at times accompanied by intense panic right after, and Keith was always the one to pull him out of it. It hurt him so much to see his brother in such a state.  
   Keith also was no stranger to panic attacks. When Shiro first disappeared and left him all alone in the Garrison, and now, again. Shiro is gone again, and Keith is left to fill the gap of leader, as Shiro requested. Look at the brilliant job he’s doing of it, getting stuck on a planet after Lance saved his skin.  
He was still staring at Lance, it looked like some colour had returned to his face, but it was still too pale, and the flush across his cheeks was the evidence of the fever Keith had failed to notice until recently.

“You know you can always talk to me if you need to. I know I'm not Hunk or Pidge, but right now we only have each other.” Keith hoped that this would encourage Lance to continue to open up to him, just as he had done that first time when he admitted they make a good team.

   Right now they would need to be a great team in order to make it out of here alive.

“..I know.” Lance whispered to himself, not loud enough for Keith to hear. He sighs.  
“Why don’t you get some shuteye. It’s good for your skin, and boy does your skin need it.” He replies with a grin.  
Making Keith worry was not on his to do list today, or any day really.

   So Lance was filled with an incredibly warm feeling when he watched the black paladin nod after a long while of considering whether to stay awake with him or get some sleep as suggested. He felt human again, even in the dead of night.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On October 3rd, asked me what day it was  
> /It's October 3rd/  
> BOOm surprise chapter because its October 3rd

   It was Lance’s turn now to sit in silence, listening to a soft sleeping breath mix with the crackling of the fire that Keith has insisted on lighting, despite the planet's temperature already being pretty warm, before drifting off to sleep. He has let his eyes shift to their red as soon as he sensed that Keith was asleep, not wanting to use up unnecessary energy keeping them blue in appearance. His eyes weren’t always red, it’s only something that happens when his control is slipping, when his body betrays him and gives in to his vampiric desires, much like it had now. Even if he had patched himself up, he could feel blood beginning to ooze out of him slowly whenever he moved in a way that re-opened his wounds. His grip on the last of his humanity was slipping. He was still a beast, no matter how hard he rebelled against it.  
   Lance had come too close for comfort just then, too close to letting sheer survival instincts kick in and take over, to drain the life from the unsuspecting Keith. Lucky for him, or maybe unlucky, seeing Keith’s distressed face, hearing how softly he called his name, it snapped him out of it. Who knows though, this could be a one off, he’s sure it’ll only get more and more difficult to keep himself in check the longer they stay stranded on this planet. Lance hasn’t even considered what he’ll do when they do get rescued. He’ll probably be carted off to a healing pod, but that won’t ease his bloodlust. Maybe he’ll just have to come out and say it, and while he’s at it he could also come out as bi, and confess to Keith too, why not. Spill all his secrets in one go, in a hope that the flood of new information would make the subsequent tide of questions more bearable, stopping anyone from focusing on one thing for too long.  
   Honestly, Lance being a vampire was probably more believable than his feelings for the black paladin. He had tried his best to deny it, and yet here he was, barely hanging on to his senses, watching over a beautifully reckless boy.

 

   There was a rustle in the distance, still quite far away, but a perk of being a blood drinking undead was the elevation of your senses, so even though Lance was weak, he still had no trouble picking up on the sound. He too had found the silence very odd, and now wasn’t all too sure if the noises in the far distance were a better alternative . So he set out to investigate just who, or what, dared to disturb the unnerving silence. After a short while spent looking around he managed to find a way to climb on top of the unusual ‘trees’, as the team's sharp-shooter he was no stranger to climbing in search of a good vantage point. While getting himself as comfortable as he could atop the cap of the orange mushroom his mind drifted slightly to the thought that whatever was out there… it had blood. He could go after it, and calm his cruel and powerful urges. But doing so would leave Keith vulnerable, asleep in their small, useless shelter, unsure of what happened to his teammate. Its not like Lance could wake him before he left, Keith would definitely follow him into danger, he’d have too many questions, questioning Lance as to the purpose of this ‘suicide mission’, probably even using his authority as the black paladin to make them head away from the danger. It wasn’t ideal, but Lance decided to not do that to Keith, instead he hopes that he can hold out a little longer.

   There, in the distance, he sees a big gap in the plant life covering the planet. That must be where the black lion landed, bulldozing over any obstacle in its path as it came crashing down, probably making itself a quite comfortable bed out of the flattened plants. Lance smiled at the thought. The lions were sentient after all, and Lance had grown quite attached to them. Though the change from blue to red was unexpected and definitely sent him into a spiral. Not that he didn’t love red as much as he did blue, its just how it happened had played on his insecurities so much. His connection with red wasn’t that strong yet, but he hopes they’ll grow closer with time, and maybe then she will come to his rescue just like she did with Keith. He knows he can't possibly replace Keith, and that the former red paladin will always be the most precious to red, they had such a deep bond, but he’ll try his best to be a worthy paladin. For her sake, for the teams sake, and for Keith.

   He spots movement by the black lion, Lance’s instincts are still sharp despite the pain and apparently the fever he’s running. Can vampires even get fevers? He does not know. Anyway, he’s getting too side tracked. Shifting his focus back on the task at hand he sees creatures surround the grounded lion, his senses telling him that those creatures meant trouble, and he’s not willing to debate with his gut on this one. He always looses anyway. For now the alien lizard-dog-panthers??? seemed too preoccupied with the lion to consider exploring further. However it wouldn’t be too long before the animals got tired of the unresponsive machine and moved on. Besides the two boys haven’t traveled that far from the original crash site, that was Lance’s fault, he slowed them down. The creatures would likely get to them in about 27 minutes if they tried, and that didn’t give them a whole lot of room to escape. So it was best to leave now and look for somewhere else to take shelter, before they get discovered.  
   Lance made his way down from his vantage point with haste. The sooner he got to Keith the better. It would give them more time to make their escape, maybe accommodate for the time that will surely be lost on Lance, who couldn’t quite keep up last time.

   He enters the cave without a care about waking the sleeping paladin inside and begins to stomp out the remains of the neglected fire in the centre of the room.

“Keith. Buddy, wake up.” The red paladin half whispers, not wanting the volume of his voice to startle the other boy and possibly draw any attention to their location.

   Lance walked over to Keith after he still doesn’t make any suggestion of waking up. He lingers for a moment, just to stare at Keith’s peaceful expression, it was a nice change from the constant frown he wore while around Lance. He let his emotions flood over his heart, turning his eyes blue. After whispering Keith’s name a few times, when he’s sure he is still sound asleep… Lance steals a kiss. He knows its wrong, but he isn’t sure if he’ll even make it out of this alive. He wants to save the last of his humanity. No use in denying it now. Lance just wants to kiss the boy he loves. Be it for the first time, or the last.  
Only time will tell.


	7. Chapter 7

“Okay, wake up now Mullet.” Lance said as he ruffled Keith’s hair.

   Unsurprisingly that seemed to bring Keith out from his slumber, because as soon as the words left Lance’s mouth he felt a warm hand grab his and shove it away, and those purple eyes glared up at him.

“What the hell Lance? Can’t you just wake me up normally??”

“Trust me, I’ve tried everything short of screaming in your ear.” Lance mirrors Keith’s glare, but theres a hint of playfulness in his eyes.  
“Not my fault ‘normal’ methods don’t work on you sleeping beauty.”

   He watched the black paladin blush and cross his arms in a small act of defiance, he seemed to be thinking about his reply. This strikes Lance as odd. When has Keith ever stopped to pick his words carefully? It’s very unlike him. Lance moved closer and put his hand against Keith’s forehead, mirroring what the other had done to him a few hours prior. The other boy jumps at the touch, the flush across his cheeks spreading further with embarrassment, though Lance payed no mind to his reaction.

“You don’t seem to have a fever.” He replies thoughtfully.

“Of course I don’t” Keith moves Lance’s hand away again, blush still lighting up his porcelain skin.  
“Is it my turn to take watch? Are you feeling okay?” He followed up, changing the subject.

   The red paladin’s eyes widen slightly, as if he’d remembered something really important.

“Oh! Right, yeah we gotta go man. Theres some scare looking animals surrounding the black lion. We should move further into the woods.” He was already packing up all the supplies they’ll need, cursing himself for getting so distracted by the other’s sleeping face.

   He sees Keith’s face go through a bunch of different emotions before settling on an expression showing determination, and before long the two boys are running into the forest again. Keith in front slicing up whatever’s in his way, and Lance covering his back.  
Things went relatively smoothly for, oh, about 10 glorious minutes. That was when Lance managed to trip over a root which was stretching out of the soil, waiting for an unsuspecting soul to fall for its trap. He fell onto his arm with a yelp. This then caused Keith to slow down to a stop and run back over to the fallen boys side. Lance was slowing them down again.

“Lance are you okay? Keith asked, his guilt for not considering Lance may need to move at a slower pace was clearly seeping through into his voice.

Lance however misread that tone as one of pity.  
“Yes I’m fine, I just tripped.” He mumbles, hissing as he moves the arm he fell on.

   Great, he just had to use his injured arm to break his fall. He can feel the gash across it reopen, it makes him feel nauseous.

“Lance, you’re hurt aren’t you. It’s not just your ribs is it.” Keith crouches down next to him, looking at the arm he’s hopelessly trying to hide.

   Lance bites his lip and nods in defeat. He can never win against Keith, ever, in anything. Theres obviously no point in hiding it anymore. So he reluctantly reveals the wound thats slowly began coating his hand in trails of blood.

“Christ, Lance.” Keith looks at him sympathetically. “When did this happen?”  
There was nothing sharp around where Lance had fallen, nothing that could cause a wound like that.

“I.. I don’t know. When red was hit maybe? I think some metal panel broke loose. It was like this when I came to.” Lance looked down at the ground, feeling slightly ashamed for getting injured so easily.

“Why didn’t you let me know? Lance, I need to know these things.” There was a touch of anger in Keith’s voice, why hadn’t he noticed this before? Just like he didn’t notice Lance’s fever.

   The anger was picked up by Lance, it burned him, of course Keith would be angry at him for getting injured.

“Its not like I got hurt on purpose!” He retorts defensively.

“Really? Well you could have fooled me!” Keith snaps back.

“Whats that supposed to mean?” Lance asks quietly.

   Thats when Keith realises what he had just said to Lance, the weight of his own words falling on him. He sighs, softening his voice and features.

“You’re too reckless. I don’t like seeing you hurt, but I like it even less when you hide it from me. Because then I can’t even help you.” He hoped his words got through to the blue eyed boy sitting in front of him.

“I’m sorry.” Lance answered after a while, getting ready to stand up and forget this ever happened.

   Keith smiled at him and reached his hand out, the other took it without hesitation and allowed himself to be pulled up onto his feet. Keith grabbed the last of whats left of the bandage and quickly tied it around Lance’s arm, and without another word he began leading them forwards once more. This time making sure to pay more attention to Lance as they walked.  
The two of them continued on their journey to find more shelter for an uncomfortable while, nether saying anything, allowing the quiet to reassure them that they were alone. That they were safe for now.

 

   Lance had just began to ease into a fairly pleasant pace behind Keith when he heard it, the faintest sound, almost like a hiss. His senses sharpened, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up, and he instinctively bears his teeth. Danger.  
Without warning his whole body tensed, and the vampire impulses overwhelmed him. He gasped faintly and wrapped his arms around himself, the sudden onslaught of of these impulses did not mix well with his injured body, he fell to his knees. His eyes shifting in and out of focus. He can hardly hear Keith calling out his name in panic. The intense feelings of hungry bloodlust, pain, danger, they seal his breath away. Then he comes to a razor sharp state of focus, just as a small animal with six legs slithers out of the leaves next to Keith. It latches onto his leg, and just like that Keith’s face falls blank, his eyes close, and he falls to the ground next to Lance.

   Something snaps in that very moment. Lance can feel his irises burn, a fiery red so bright it aches. His fangs extend violently as rage and panic are given free reign over his very being. His nails lengthen and point into claws almost.

   He rips the creature to shreds. Crushing it’s bones, tearing it apart.

Then an eery calm dawns over him.  
And it just happens to be dawn.  
So with a soft rawr, and a flash of blue, night turns back to day.

   Red eyes turn back to blue, and fall upon Keith’s unconscious body.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> things are happening? The story will hopefully progress faster now

   Lance watched Keith as he lay unconscious, having returned from the brink of a breakdown. He never felt like that before, almost like a cornered animal lashing out. He looked at the bloodied remains of the alien in front of him, the sight scared him. But what scared him more was Keith. Keith who was pale, and breathing shallow breaths. The bite mark on his leg looked bad, the fabric around it was torn up and small drops of indigo liquid surrounded it. Maybe.. the creature was venomous! Thats it, that must be it, it would explain Keiths strange reaction to being bitten. Keith was a strong person, he could usually handle a great deal of physical pain, so ether that shallow bite was incredibly painful, or it was something to do with the blueish liquid, the latter being more likely.  
Lance’s blood runs cold. They had no contact with the castle, so no healing pods or helpful Coran who’d probably know of this creature’s existence and how to fight it’s venom, no. No, it was just Lance, just the person who had caused Keith to drop his guard in the first place, who could’t protect him. He reaches over a shaky hand, placing it on Keith’s shoulder and shaking it slightly.

“Keith.. Keith wakeup.. say something.”

   No response.

“I can’t do this on my own.” His voice trembles painfully and he can feel a lump form in his throat as his eyes begin to water.

“I can’t, why couldn’t it have been me. You’re the leader, you’re the most important member of the team, why couldn’t I be the one… I’m replaceable. I’m.. It’s all my fault.”

   He sits there shaking like a leaf, completely in shock, watching as the world becomes blurred with unshed tears.

‘No. Get a grip of yourself, there must be something you can do, Keith would never give up on anyone, so I can’t do this right now.. There’s only one option left.’

   It hasn’t been that long since Keith was bitten. Lance could still help him, it would be risky, but he had no other choice.  
He crawled over to the pale boy, and after gently lifting Keith’s leg up, he pressed his lips against it.

   He bit into Keith’s flesh, and as the first drop of blood hit his tongue, he felt his irises explode in red once more. His body betraying him again. It tasted so good. He allowed the blood to trickle down his throat, swallowing it, not caring one bit about the way it stung his mouth. He needed to feed or he’s sure he’ll die in this very moment. But the blood, it scorched him, and soon the pain of his injuries, the pain of drinking this… it flips a switch in his mind.

   Something deep within him screams out, deeper than his consciousness.

Blood. Will. Heal.

   His thoughts go blank as he drinks. It feels like he’s in a desert, and he’s finally found an oasis, finally allowed to quench that thirst and keep himself alive. Yet all his senses are screaming out different things, giving out mixed signals, but he continues to feed. His life depends on it.  
The blood is so sweet, he could get drunk on it. Lance had always imagined what Keith’s blood would taste like, he wouldn’t admit it, but this was surpassing all expectations. He felt so connected to Keith, so close to the boy who was forever out of his reach, they were together now… Keith belonged to Lance in that moment.

   Something broke Lance’s frenzied feeding quite abruptly, allowing his mind to clear for a second. It was the realisation that Keith’s blood no longer burned, he was drinking clean blood. He knew he had to stop but he felt like he was outside his body, as if he was in a waking dream.

   With all the strength he could muster in the moment, Lance used his hand and stabbed it deep into the wound on his side. He cried out in pain, so much that his throat hurt, but that may just be damage caused by the indigo liquid he consumed along with Keith’s blood.  
Tears were spilling like raindrops onto the ground, mixing with the blood covering Lance’s face, dripping down from his mouth.  
He sobbed, allowing the excruciating pain to overpower him, to dull his stupid impulses and ground him in the present situation. This was punishment for what he did to Keith. He shouldn’t have allowed this to happen, for him to go that far. What if he seriously hurt Keith? What if he took too much blood?

“K- Keef..” Lance sobbed.  
“Keith. Please wake up now.”

   Lance felt dizzy, he couldn’t sit up anymore, so he leaned over and placed his head on Keith’s chest. Tears staining the white and black paladin armour protecting him. Lance could only hear his own heartbeat in his ears, no matter how hard he strained to listen out for Keith’s. Panic began swirling around inside him like a storm begging to break free from it’s prison of flesh and blood, lighting struck his wounds with every beat of his heart.

“Keith… open your eyes. Please.”

 

   Keith only remembers feeling a white hot pain in his leg, then the world went all fuzzy and he didn’t feel anything, not until it felt like his blood was being replaced by lava with every weak pump of his heart. It was true agony, the sensation was paralysing even his thoughts. In all his life Keith had never experienced anything like this, the excruciating flow of blood being rejected by his own body. But then somehow it eased up a little, bit by bit the torture of his heartbeat went away. He regained feeling in his limbs that he wasn't even aware of loosing. His caged thoughts were allowed to roam free again, and he exhaled a breath he didn’t even know he was holding.

   Keith figures that he must have lost consciousness somewhere along the way, considering he was waking up on the ground. His chest felt heavy, unsure of what was causing that sensation he let his hands fall onto his chest. Of all the things that could be the cause of it, Keith was not expecting it to be another person.

“Lance…” Keith breathes out, slowly opening his eyes, letting his vision adjust to the new brightness of the sky that was still a deep black the last he remembered it.

“Keith!” Lance cries out, lifting himself off Keith’s chest, not even considering wiping away his tears, and completely forgetting about the blood coating his mouth.

“What the hell happened to you?” Keith frowns his brow. Why the hell was Lance covered in blood??

“Nothing.” Lance stutters out, allowing himself to calm and the tears streaming down his face eventually slow down too.  
“Keith how are you feeling??”

Keith pauses for a second to consider his answer, he becomes aware of just how much his whole body aches.

“Like I’ve been hit by an ion cannon.” He answers with a small groan, starting to sit up.

“But you don’t feel sick or anything?” Lance asks while helping him up.

“No, I feel fine, just a bit sore. Why would I feel sick?”

“You were bitten by some alien. I think it was venomous.”

Ah, it started to make sense now, the pieces were falling into place. That’s why Lance had blood on his face.

“Did you.. save my life again?” Keith asks in a soft voice, almost shyly, feeling a blush rise to his cheeks.

 

   Lance beams in response to Keith’s question. He sways where he sits next to the other paladin. 'I really am an idiot, why did I go and drink it.. you were supposed to spit the poison out genius not eat it.' he thinks to himself as the adrenalin was finally wearing off. Lance allowed himself to close his eyes, just for a moment.  
Only for a moment.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long to update got super busy with uni work ;-; this chapter is kinda short

“Lance? Lance!” Keith catches the boy as he falls limp.

   What the hell could cause him to lose consciousness like that? Was it just the shock of his injuries and Keith getting hurt? Or was it something completely different? Was he bitten by the creature too?

   Keith surveys Lance’s body for any bite marks. He’s glad he doesn’t find any, but what he does find is even more troubling. Lance’s side, theres an alarmingly deep stab wound there. Upon closer inspection he notices torn bandages surrounding it, as if Lance has dressed the wound only to be stabbed again, through the bandage this time. His hands were covered in blood too, Keith had originally through he had cut them on something, but looking at it now he could see scraps of bloodied banged clinging to the torn glove on one of his hands. Lance had done that to himself. Why? So many questions were running through Keith’s head.  
Why would the boy who had kissed him so gently when he thought Keith was asleep go and stab himself like that? Keith is well aware he was not supposed to know about that kiss, but it was just another question unwilling to let his thoughts clear enough to search for any conclusions. After all, if Lance had some sort of feelings for him, as a secret stolen kiss could suggest, why would he keep putting his life at risk? Maybe for Keith’s sake he could understand, he didn’t like it one bit, but he could understand, he would act the exact same way to protect Lance. But that really doesn’t explain why he’d re-open his wound like that. A wound which Lance hid from him too! Even after they had that talk the night before.

   Keith sighs, stroking the hair back off of Lance’s forehead, and places his lips on it. Just as he feared, Lance’s fever has gone up, quite quickly too. Was it because of his injuries? Keith really didn’t see any bite marks from the weird creature. Well, he didn’t even really get a good look at it before he was out and burning from the inside. It was kinda golden brown in colour with bright yellow stripes. Kinda like… like the pieces of skin he sees in a pile not too far from them. It was a small pile, unusually neat, so Keith doubts it was any other animal that made it. Inside the neat circle lay the remains of the alien, its bones, muscles, teeth… the teeth looked like they had been pulled out. Nothing looks to be missing. What kind of animal would rip apart a creature and not eat anything? Come to think of it, Lance’s hands were covered in blood. Too much blood to be his and Keith’s alone.

   Keith feels nausea rise from the pit of his stomach, threatening to return what little he’s had to eat over the past day. Had Lance done that? It was so brutal and strangely precise, was he even capable of doing that? Surely if he wanted to kill it there were simpler methods of doing that… he certainly didn’t need to pluck its teeth out.

“What's going on with you?” Keith questioned out loud.

   He didn’t want to say it, but Keith was starting to feel a little woozy himself. Lance has said he was poisoned, and even if he did suck the poison out, some was bound to have been absorbed into his body, and it was obviously doing it’s job now.

   Keith grabbed his helmet. This situation was the furthest from ideal. He was poisoned, Lance was injured, and acting weird, really weird, oh and also currently passed out. He prayed the signal went through this time.

“Guys? Anyone! Please answer. Things aren't looking too good.” Keith could hear his own words echoed back at him through Lance’s helmet.

   But all he heard back was more static. The message was not getting through. However, if their helmets worked, then there must be something blocking the signal getting off this planet. Hopefully, the others have figured it out by now. Hopefully.

“Just hang on Lance.”

   There were only two options left now, they ether stay here until Lance comes to, or Keith will have to carry him to a safer location. Judging by the distant hissing he can hear, the second option seems like the best plan. But leaving with no direction in mind wasn’t smart ether. Given his condition he wouldn’t be able to carry Lance for long, every step mattered. There was no other choice, he had to go scout the area first and leave the other boy behind for a little while. That plan did not sit well with Keith at all, in fact he hated it. However given the circumstances, it was the best one he had, the best chance they’d have of survival. If he were to stumble around aimlessly with no clue as to where they were heading it would just make Lance and him more vulnerable to whatever is out there and fancies a bite. Climbing the ‘trees’ wouldn’t be much help, their shroom like caps blocked out any view of the ground, a blessing and a curse. The world always had to have a balance, a price to pay, consequence for every action. Keith had dropped his guard and allowed himself to get hurt, and as a result of that Lance had had to save him again. This was becoming a pattern.

   Keith leaned over Lance and gently wiped the blood off his mouth, taking a moment to listen to his shallow breaths before bending down and placing a small kiss on the unconscious paladin’s lips.

“Payback.” Keith whispered.

“I’ll be back really soon. Wait for me.”

   Not that Lance would go anywhere anyway. But he said it just in case Lance could somehow hear him, and for his own peace of mind, it would be like a silent promise. Keith will return to Lance.

   They’ll get out of here together. They just need to wait it out a little longer and trust in their team.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SORRY FOR THE ABSENCE  
> I had my final year dissertation (big ol' essay) due it was hellish but IM BACK!

   The last thing Lance expected was to wake up alone on an alien planet. It was almost like some weird deja vu, only this time Keith wasn’t laying unconscious by his side. Where was he? Was he even here in the first place? Or did Lance just imagine the whole thing? No, of course he was here. Well, not here obviously, but somewhere. And now that Lance came to that conclusion one question remained. Where did Keith go? What happened to him while Lance was out?

   Lance sat up slowly, his whole body ached more than it ever had in this vampire form, the experience was almost comparable to what it felt like to be turned. His injuries weren’t healing, the wound on his side, even though it looked like someone had tried their best to patch it up (that was probably Keith’s doing) was still in a pretty bad state. If Lance had to guess, he probably wouldn’t survive the next day, not as he was in right now. The blood did as much damage as it helped, like taking three steps forward and two steps back, typical. But he could still protect Keith, make it up to him for all this trouble he’s caused. If only he knew where Keith was. Was there Galra on this planet? Did a creature attack him? Was he… Surely he couldn’t be dead. No. He couldn’t be dead. Lance just had to find him, even if it was the last thing he’d do.

   The poison in the blood he has drank was slowly taking effect, he felt the heat of it travel through him, it was only uncomfortable for now. Maybe a vampire’s metabolic system messed with the toxins in the venom, making it behave differently. Hopefully it wouldn’t make it worse. Come to think of it, what would happen when he got back to the castle and Coran tried to heal it? The team would likely suspect that something wasn’t right. Keith would too, after all he had the pleasure of experiencing it first. Lance could try to explain it away, blaming Keith’s half Galra nature, or the fact that he had ingested it, but that in itself would cause even more of a stir. Stupid vampire nature. He’ll cross that bridge when he comes to it, right now he needed to find Keith and his stupid mullet.

   Getting up on his feet took a few tries, all his grace and slyness had vanished under the haze of injury and poison, if the others could see him now they’d laugh. He had a reputation amongst his clan, and the other clans for that matter. Being stuck on an alien planet right now may actually not be that bad.  
He stumbled a little before getting the hang of walking in this condition, he could hardly feel his legs beneath him and wondered when they’d finally give. Nevertheless he set off in a random direction. Probably should have given it some more thought but he could not trust his senses right now. So, why not try his luck?

 

*

 

   Keith was getting a bad feeling, maybe he was just being overly cautious, too worried about having left Lance alone. There was a few places he had passed that would have made for a decent shelter, but ‘decent’ wasn’t good enough, not when they were this weak. Well it wasn’t for a while at least. Enough time had passed that ‘decent’ morphed into ‘good’. He really was worried about Lance, this small hole in the ground would do until they regained some strength. It was about time he returned. Keith felt like hours has passed when in reality it was closer to 18 minutes. Not a lot could happen in that amount of time, and considering Keith had run half the way he figured he covered enough ground for them to end up pretty far from that dismembered creature and it’s friends.

   It took Keith another 15 minutes to run back, which he considered quite impressive in his current position, being slightly poisoned and all. He finally made it back! All was well.  
But where the hella was Lance?!

 

*

 

   In hindsight Lance should have realised he is not a lucky man. The universe never failed to remind him, not that he ever listens, obviously. If he had, he probably wouldn’t be in this situation. Seems like the nippy six-legged creature he had ripper apart had a clan of its own, and he’d just stepped into their territory. They didn’t seem too happy about it judging by their angry hissing. As he saw it, right now he had two options: either do to them what he did to their friend, or run away with his tail between his legs. A creature launched itself at him before he could even decide. He’ll definitely omit this part from any retellings of this story, the young paladin let out the most high pitched scream as he reached for his Bayard, feeling it materialise in his hand and turned into his trusted weapon. He barely managed to kill it before more started to move. The latter option was the way to go after all. Being killed by space lizards was far from more humiliating than being chased by them. He can always exaggerate their size later, but now was not the time to be dwelling on the details. It was the time to run.

 

*

 

   There were always two sides to every situation, a little bit of bad in the good, a little bit of good in the bad. Like right now for example, sure hearing a scream coming from deep inside the alien forest was seldom a good sign, but hey! At least he knew where Lance was. Forget conserving energy, it was time to run like his life depended on it, because in a way, it did. They’ve been through so much in the past day, Keith had never considered that in a situation like this he’d end up confronting his own feelings about the new red paladin, but it was obvious really. He’s been trying so hard not to think about it, but as things stand right now they really could die out here.  
It didn’t even take 5 minutes before Keith almost run into Lance, who was trying his best to run despite his injuries, shooting behind him frantically.

“Keith! Buddy! it's so good to see you!” Lance shouts as he runs towards Keith.

“The hell is going on Lance?”

“Angry lizards! Very angry lizards! We gotta go.”

   Keith looked behind him just in time to see a group of tiny creatures running after Lance. Were they the same creature as the one he had found torn up before? He’d have to ask Lance about that later, as well as all the other weird things going on with him. But this wasn’t really the time for that.

“Follow me, I found a good hideout.” Keith took the lead and grabbed Lance by the hand.

   How did Lance always bring trouble where ever he went. It’s almost as if the universe wanted to place him in the middle of this whole mess, he was the one to interrupt Keith while saving Shiro, the one who woke up the Blue lion and took them all into space, the one who saved Keith and somehow got stuck here on this eerily beautiful planet with it’s creepy lizards. He was the one person Keith couldn’t keep out of his mind too, the one who always got hurt for the greater good and never complained, who faced all the danger that seemed to be attracted to him and always came out of it without changing, always cheerful, and kind, and stupidly selfless.

 

   The running was exhausting, luckily they managed to lose their own personal hissing lizard marching band a while back, probably around the time they passed the remains of the one which had bit Keith. Now the two paladins had slowed to a walk, well in Lance’s case more like a wobble, Keith assured him they were getting close to the new hideout.

“By the way, what happened to the thing that bit me?” Keith slows to a stop and faces Lance.

“I uh, I got rid of it. It was a mean little reptile.” Lance replied with an almost guilty expression.

“Was that what I saw back there? You did that?” Keith looks into Lance's eyes. All he gets in reply is a small nod.

“Lance, what is going on with you?


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Author's note! Sorry for the long absence! But ya girl is a month away from graduating from university! It's been a long rough road so I haven't had the time to write for fun lately, and when I returned to this chapter I was not satisfied so I completely re-wrote it! Hope ya'll enjoy it <3

   There it was, that dreaded question, ‘whats going on?’ If only Lance could explain. He doesn’t want to lie anymore but what’s the point of complicating matters by confessing the truth? The focus should be on survival and finding Red, not on Lance and his many questionable actions and secrets. However, maybe it’ll be for the best, once the night falls again he’s not confident the love for his teammate will be enough to stop him this time. Lance is weak and injured, he’s barely keeping it together as is, he doesn’t need that animalistic survival instinct to kick in. But he also knows that his chances of making it to see the morning are dwindling, he’ll probably turn to dust sooner than later. (That's a bit of an in-joke between vampires, they don’t actually turn to dust, they pretty much just look normal hence them being thought of as a myth. The story goes that an Elder vampire let slip rumuors to confuse humans, and apparently its worked wonders.)

“Look man, I’ll answer what I can once we get to a shelter.” Lance finally replies with a tired sigh.

“Fine, but you’re telling me everything. How am I supposed to protect you when I don’t know what’s going on.”

   Lance felt his face heat up, Keith wants to protect him! He could die happy right now. Not that he wants to. That would be the exact opposite of Keith protecting him if he lets himself die just like that. Lance doesn’t think he would forgive himself if he died after hearing what Keith just said to him.

“Alright, you have yourself a deal.” Lance mutters with a defeated smile on his face, because God, how can one man completely overpower him like that? And the worst part is Keith probably wasn’t even aware of it!

   The rest of the journey was quiet, Lance hated the quiet on a good day, but right now he utterly despised it, mostly because there was nothing to distract from the fact that a short and slow walk was making him breathe so heavily. The worried glances from Keith certainly weren’t helping either. But before long they reached a big tree, or rather a big cluster of mushroom-shaped plants that grew in a way that resembled a tree (Lance figured calling it a tree would be a way simpler than the alternative). This ‘tree’ was huge, both the paladins would be able to fit comfortably on any of the ‘branches’ and the pale pink and red mushroom caps were a great flat surface for them to set up camp and wait for the team to find them.

   If Lance thought the walk was bad, he sure had another thing coming. He swallowed hard as he slowly lifted his head to fully take in just how huge this tree was.

“Well, this is gonna be fun.” He mutters, earning a nudge on the arm and a sympathetic look from Keith.

“Don’t worry, I’ll help you up.”

“Nope, it’s fine! I can do it just fine on my own.” As Lance utters these famous last words he tripped on a root and fell as gracefully as an injured vampire could.

“Mhm, sure you can buddy.” Keith relied in a monotone voice, words dripping in sarcasm as he walked over and helped Lance up.

   All Lance could do was pout, his face flushed in embarrassment. He did notice though that Keith was being mindful of his injuries. So that cats out the bag huh? Probably for the best.

   As expected the climb wasn’t going too bad with Keith’s help, but it was still too much for Lance to handle.

“Hey, lets set up here.” Lance says pointing to a big branch. “Good vantage point.”

   Keith gives a nod in reply and leads them over, never letting his gaze fall from Lance.

“Look man..” Lance began in a serious tone. “I know I’m handsome but you don’t need to stare so much.” He finishes with a sly smile.

“What?! No way! I wasn’t!” Keith shouts out defensively.

“Pffff…” Lance covers his mouth with his hand, trying to keep himself from laughing.

“Hey! Don’t laugh!”

   Lance shakes his head while cackling.

“Nope.. wasn’t… Wasn’t laughing.” Lance manages to choke out between chuckles.

   The fun is soon interrupted by a sharp pain shooting up Lance’s side. He winces and shuts his eyes tight, riding through it as best as he can.

“Ugh, that was so worth it.” Lance wipes a tear from his cheek, the smile never left his face though.

   Keith gives Lance another sympathetic look as he helps him down to a sitting position. Lance leans his head against the tree trunk and lets his eyes fall shut, taking a few moments to collect himself, but inevitably realizing just how worn out he is.

“I know you wanna talk but do you mind if I just have a quick power nap?” Lance asks, not bothering to open his eyes or even really waiting for Keith’s response.

 

   The world fades out of focus. Everything is calm, the nothingness soothes all the pain. Perhaps in the real world an hour has passed, but to Lance, the calmness only lasted a few seconds, the nothingness dissolved into a scene from the past. His birth, or rather his death.

   Lance hates how cliche it was, it really made the others in his clan laugh when he told the stories of his untimely end and compared it to those old vampire movies.  
You see, it was a rainy night, and he was walking home from a late shift at work. He didn’t mind the rain, intact he loved it and still does to this day, but that night thunder run and echoed across the sky like a shout from the heavens and the light drizzle turned into a downpour. Lance ducked into a doorway in a small alley. Not the wisest decision in any situation but that never seems as obvious as it does in hindsight. He could hear the thunder in the distance as the lightning lit up the alley. There was someone there. The stranger’s footsteps became the only sound Lance could hear and as the lightning struck again he was pushed against the wall by the tall male, he felt this man’s lips against his neck as he kissed him. Lance was paralyzed, even as the man bit into him. The last thing he experienced as a human was the rain hitting his skin, so even if the experience was traumatic he still loves the rain, the last part of him that felt human.  
Lightning struck again and Lance found himself with his position switched. Beneath his grasp was Keith, Lance kissed his neck, Keith’s eyes were full of fear and betrayal as blood dripped down from his neck, but Lance didn’t stop. He kills him.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first ever fan fiction, as cliche as it sounds.
> 
> Any feedback would be lovely. (I’m not entirely certain this story is even gonna be interesting) 
> 
> I will add more tags when I know more about how to tag lol
> 
> And if you spot a typo please let me know!
> 
> Thank youuu <3


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